'Pay-As-You-Go' Is Put to the Test

Efforts to Insure
Children Shaped
By Spending Rule

By

Sarah Lueck

Updated Aug. 2, 2007 12:01 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON -- Behind the raging debate over a popular health-insurance program for children -- which came to a head yesterday as the House passed legislation expanding the program -- are three broader issues likely to bedevil lawmakers heading into the 2008 elections and beyond.

The legislation represents the biggest test yet of Democrats' pledge to pay for new spending with higher taxes or offsetting spending cuts -- a politically difficult exercise that pits lawmakers against the powerful industries forced to shoulder...